Wimmy Road Boyz, Sufiyaan Salam’s first published novel, arrives on May 28 after winning Stormzy’s #Merky Books New Writers’ Prize in 2024 and building early buzz for 2026.
Set over one chaotic night on Manchester’s Curry Mile, the book follows three British-Pakistani friends as fun, private strain and wider pressures around race, class and masculinity collide.
Salam, 28, said he wanted an entertaining novel rather than a “trauma” story, while giving young Muslim men’s lives the literary weight he associates with writers such as Irvine Welsh and Joyce.
His debut extends a cross-medium career that has included videos for Elton John and James Blunt, script work on Hollyoaks and JoJo & Gran Gran, and a Bafta-nominated short film, Magid/Zafar.
Does Salam's novel risk new stereotypes while trying to canonize a masculine British-Pakistani experience?
How did animating for Elton John and screenwriting for television shape Salam's prize-winning debut novel?
How has Manchester's community reacted to the portrayal of its iconic Curry Mile in this hit book?